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Movies Ready To Roll

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By KEVIN WIATROWSKI

The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 4, 2008

WESLEY CHAPEL - The countdown has begun toward opening day for central Pasco County's first movie house, although the exact date remains a moving target.

Cobb Theatres hopes to have its newest multiplex cinema open Sept. 19, but company officials are keeping that date tentative because they still have a lot of work to do.

The 16-screen theater is nearing completion at the northern end of The Grove at Wesley Chapel shopping center just north of County Road 54 and Oakley Boulevard.

Outside, the theater's vertical marquee and neon detailing evoke Art Deco-style movie houses of yore. But inside, the Alabama-based theater chain reveals what President Bobby Cobb said could be the future for his entire industry: an in-house restaurant.

"This is beyond anything that we've ever done," Cobb said Wednesday while construction workers worked around him.

Cobb Theatres carries on a family legacy that began when Bobby Cobb's great-grandfather opened a theater in the silent film era. In the decades that followed, the family stayed on top of the industry's trends, from drive-ins to stadium seating, Bobby Cobb said.

Cobb sold his company - and two cinemas in west Pasco to Regal Entertainment in 1997. After three years, he got back into the business with a new company.

The new theater's second-floor 120-seat Cinebistro will be the first of its kind for Cobb Theatres. It will offer visitors a fully functioning sit-down restaurant where they can eat before their movie or order food and drinks to eat in leather-covered seats in adults-only balconies.

"We want this to be a seamless, fully integrated experience," said Jeremy Welman, the company's chief operating officer.

Company officials hope to draw visitors from as far as Hernando and Hillsborough counties. When they began work on their new theater, Wesley Chapel was sprouting house by the hundreds and offered the promise of thousands of new movie patrons.

The housing collapse and tight economic times have undone some of that, but Welman remains optimistic.

"For the most part, we're still one of the least expensive out-of-home experiences," he said.

Tickets for the balconies will run $14.50 on weekends and a couple of dollars less during the week. Admission to the main floor will be $9.50 for adults, company officials said.

Downstairs, at the heart of the wide-open lobby, the theater's snack bar is self-service and offers everything from popcorn to pizza - no waiting in line for someone to hand over a drink or box of candy, Welman said.

For now, however, the snack bar is empty. From beneath the counter Wednesday afternoon came the wail of a power tool and the faint whiff of something smoking. There's still some work to do before opening day.

Aside from the remaining construction work, theater officials still have to finalize the roster of films they will offer visitors on the first day. They have 16 screens to fill at a time when Hollywood's summer blockbuster season has ebbed.

That means some of those screens could sport independent films and unusual offerings, such as 3-D versions of recent movies, said Guy Austin, the company's operations director.

"September is not the best time to open a theater," Welman said. "It'll be a little quieter than we hoped it would be, but Nov. 1 is right around the corner, and there are some great holiday films."

Reporter Kevin Wiatrowski can be reached at (813) 948-4201 or kwiatrowski@tampatrib.com.

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